Book Review of Once Upon the River Love by Andrei Makine
Name of Book: Once upon the river love Author: Andrei Makine ISBN: 0-14-028362-5 Publisher: Penguin Type of book: Russia, Siberia, love story, Belmondo, 1970s, 1990s, Western World Year it was published: 1994 (version I have 1998) Summary: Set in the 1970s in the vast, remote forests of eastern Siberia, Andrei Makine's brilliant novel tells the story of Mitya, Utkin, and Samurai, three boys on the verge of manhood. Isolated by history as well as geography, with only the passing lights of the Transsiberian train to assure them of an outside world, these friends yearn for experiences their small village cannot provide. But an afternoon at the cinema-a day's trek by snowshoe-changes their lives forever. The boys are captivated by a film staring French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo and a cast of beautiful women (all of whom Belmondo manages to seduce with consummate ease.) Over the next several months they travel seventeen more times to see their hero, and when that ...